When Ales Hrdlicka died in 1943, at the age of 74, newspapers mourned his death and hailed him as America’s leading anthropologist. In one of the obituaries he was described as “one of the world’s foremost authorities on the history and development of mankind”. Amidst so much praise, there were also colleagues in the field of anthropology who began to question his methods, his attitude toward indigenous communities, Native Americans, and black people, groups about whom he had focused his studies and the collection of human remains and brains without any authorization or using subterfuges.
He paid for skeletons and that’s why they called him “Doctor Ossos”. For four decades he led the anthropology division of the Smithsonian, the largest museum complex in the world. This institution, as a macabre legacy of Hrdlicka, still stores 30,700 body parts, including 255 brains, according to an investigation by The Washington Post. About 70% of this set was collected under his command.
All this work made him considered an expert on race and human variation. Emigrated as a child with his parents from what is now the Czech Republic, he arrived in New York and from the beginning of his career expressed an obsession with race.
He believed that by collecting body parts he could discover the origin of the peoples of America. He focused on the collection of brains and pelvis from 1903 until his death. After his death, however, a clear feeling of racism spread towards his work.
The search for bones was done in poor areas and countries. His collection had few pieces of whites, which he considered a superior race, in contrast to blacks, last echelon and almost inhuman. “They are a problem for the United States,” he wrote. When it was considered that over time the majority of the population could be a mixture of the white and black races, he replied that this should not be dominant because “blacks lack brains and other necessary qualities”.
His theories have been completely discredited, but the Smithsonian, despite its act of contrition, still keeps numerous bones of shame.
Most of the remains were taken from cemeteries, battlefields, hospitals and mortuaries in more than 80 countries without the consent of the families. The researchers, or their hires, ransacked graves or took advantage of people without close relatives. Many come from slavery or the annihilation of natives.
The Post’s investigation notes that the Smithsonian has a long history of returning remains to their descendants.
Of his collection of brains, for example, only four have returned. But it must also be borne in mind that the delivery of the remains requires a request from the relatives. This complicates the operation, since many potential interested parties do not know that the collection exists or even that their closest relatives were dispossessed of their remains.
The debate over the hoarding of human remains as museum objects has long been raised in the United States as another element of racial inequality. The Smithsonian is home to the largest collection, but there are plenty of prestigious institutions, such as Harvard University, that have many “human bones” that have considered returning them. or who have initiated this process.
“It’s really surprising the degree to which these museums suggest the exploitation of non-white bodies, both in terms of science and display, without any authorization,” said Samuel J. Redman, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and author of the book Bone rooms, in which he dissected collections of human remains.
“We have to be more critical when approaching these collections, as educators, as researchers or as the public that will see them. These issues are reaching a historical turning point”, he adds. “These collections are causing harm to people today and these remains must be returned to their homes,” he said.
The Smithsonian, which already apologized in April, has pledged to identify the 225 brains it keeps. A team of fifteen experts, formed in May, must present a report with recommendations at the end of the year.
Perhaps one of the suggestions is related to the website of this institution. Despite his racist theories and also his support for eugenics, Dr. Ossos is listed as “one of the most prominent anthropologists in the world.”
